Movies Coming Soon: The Happening

Something is killing off the good people of planet Earth in M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Happening,” an ominous tale of the looming extermination of the human race that opens on Friday, May 9. Since this film is written and directed by the author of “The Sixth Sense,” everyone knows that there’s got to be a twist. Can you figure out the ending before the final credits roll?

Writer/Director M. Night Shyamalan established himself with the cinematic sleight-of-hand “The Sixth Sense.” His subsequent films, which include “Unbreakable,” “Signs,” “The Village” and “Lady in the Water,” have had varying degrees of success, but none have resonated with audiences to the same degree as “The Sixth Sense.” IMDB offers a biography and filmography of Shyamalan.

The premise of “The Happening” plugs into the paranoid zeitgeist of our age, playing off of our collective post-9/11 fears of terrorism by hinting at the possibility of biological warfare. At the same time it suggests that we might be on the receiving end of some nasty payback from one fed-up Mother Nature. Go to the film’s website to see the trailer, a vision of humanity on the verge of extinction.

From the classic “Godzilla” to the present day, humanity’s reckless behavior toward nature (nuclear war, global warming, biological experimentation) has been a recurring theme in modern catastrophe movies, most recently in “The Day After Tomorrow” and “I Am Legend.” “The Happening” poses this question: Could global warming erase us from the planet almost overnight? For a more scientific point of view on the subject, check out findingDulcinea’s Netcetera series “Nature Wages War.”

Another disconcerting “ripped-from-the-headlines” plot point at the center of The Happening involves the real-life disappearance of American honeybees. The film slyly suggests that whatever it is that’s killing off the bees might come after us next. A February 2008 article in findingDulcinea’s Beyond the Headlines explores the authentic mystery of the vanishing bees.

But would the Earth be such a terrible place without us in it? If you’ve ever found yourself having such nihilistic fantasies, you might want to pick up a copy of Alan Weisman’s book “The World Without Us” which postulates what would happen to Earth if all of us pesky humans were to just up and disappear.

Shyamalan makes cameo appearances in his films, in a homage to the original master of the suspense genre, Alfred Hitchcock. If you want to see how Hitchcock inserted himself into everything from “The Birds” to “Lifeboat” (yes, he found a way to get in that little rubber dinghy), check out “Alfred Hitchcock Cameos.”

Mark Wahlberg who plays the reluctant hero of “The Happening,” has come a long way in a decade. From jailbird, to rapper, to underwear model, to Oscar-nominated actor in “The Departed,” he’s had quite a career. To learn more about his career trajectory and upcoming projects, take a look at his bio on Hollywood.com.

What’s a scary movie without the requisite scary music? James Newton Howard, composer of all of Shyamalan’s film scores, has been described by Shyamalan as “the most important collaboration I have.” Howard’s first exposure to working on a film score was playing keyboards on the Jerry Goldsmith score for (what else?) “Twilight Zone: The Movie.” Get a sense of the sweep of Howard’s career by visiting this very thorough and professional fan Web site.

Shyamalan credits a Nickelodeon series called “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” as one of his influences. The show ran from 1992–2000, and frightened a generation of pre-teens who are now old enough to buy tickets to Shyamalan’s movies. TV.com offers an episode guide of the series.